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Native Park Rapids resident joins law firm

Attorney Trent Wilcox has joined the law firm of Thomason, Swanson and Zahn, PLLC, practicing in the areas of family law, guardianship, personal injury, employment disputes and general civil litigation.

"I never left here, in my heart," said Wilcox, who grew up in Park Rapids, his father, Russell, born here in 1919.

Wilcox, who's had a cabin on Big Stony since 2005, made the move north in 2011 with son Riley, 15. He joined the Park Rapids law firm in May.

Wilcox earned his law degree from Arizona State University and is admitted to practice in the state courts of Minnesota, along with Arizona state and federal courts.

While in Arizona, he was the managing partner of Wilcox & Wilcox, PC, a firm he created in 1996 and ran for 10 years.

As an extension of his family law practice, Wilcox worked with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to return abducted children to the custodial parent. He assisted parents from the Honduras, Great Britain, Lebanon, Mexico and other countries in cases brought under the Hague Convention on the civil aspects of international child abduction.

He received the NCMEC award of merit in recognition for his commitment to the protection of children.

Business clients need someone who can guide their business, understands the business and add value, helping the business to succeed, Wilcox said.

"I ran my own firm for 10 years," he said of the eight attorneys and 10 staff members. "I know how business works, how vendors think."

As a former instructor at the Arizona Paralegal Training Institute, Wilcox lectured on subjects including the dissolution of marriage, employment law and business law. He also instructed other attorneys on divorce procedure on behalf of the Lorman Institute.